Amazon.com Inc. will ask workers to come into the office at least three days a week starting in May.
Chief Executive Andy Jassy outlined the company’s new return-to-office expectations in a note to employees that was also shared on the company’s corporate blog Friday. In his memo, he said that in-person attendance strengthens the company’s culture, invites collaboration, enables learning and fosters team togetherness.
“These are just a few examples, but they’re important ones with respect to our overriding priority to deliver for customers and the business,” Jassy said. “And ultimately, they’ve led us to conclude that we should go back to being in the office together the majority of the time (at least three days per week).”
While there will be “certain roles” and other instances that drive exceptions to the in-office policy, Jassy said he expects these to represent a “small minority.”
Amazon
AMZN,
plans to put the new model in place starting May 1.
“It’s not simple to bring many thousands of employees back to our offices around the world, so we’re going to give the teams that need to do that work some time to develop a plan,” he added.
Other tech companies, including Snap Inc.
SNAP,
Alphabet Inc.
GOOG,
GOOGL,
and Apple Inc.
AAPL,
have made moves to call workers back to the office in recent months. Walt Disney Co.
DIS,
Chief Executive Bob Iger, who returned to the top post last fall, will soon target four days of in-person attendance.
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Amazon recently announced that they want their employees to be back in the office three days a week starting June 2021. This news follows the company’s initial decision to fully transition to remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
The Head of People at Amazon Web Services, Beth Galetti, wrote in a blog post that they believe the most effective way to make decisions, solve challenging problems and invent new products and services is through face-to-face conversations. She further explains that the return to the office policy applies to those who are not unable to work from their home due to legal constraints.
In May 2021, Amazon informed their US-based employees that their office attendance will be mandatory three days a week and this will keep adjusting in the following months. Any employee who demonstrates that their work from home arrangement is efficient and productive will not be required to return to the office at this time.
In order to create a safe environment for its employees, Amazon is taking all the necessary precautions to ensure their safety. The company claims that all the offices will adhere to social distancing guidelines, use protective equipment such as face masks, and provide full protection to employees. The company is also developing new technologies, such as dissolvable face masks, which may help to reduce the spread of respiratory illnesses such as Covid-19.
Overall, Amazon’s decision to bring back workers to their offices three days a week will help the company to further foster creativity and innovation while also providing its employees with a safe and secure working environment.
